To protect your IP, your CAD files need file-level security, encrypted & unencrypted labelling, digital supply chain security and CAD file data governance.
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In manufacturing, IP leakage can be existential. While the average manufacturing data breach costs ‘just’ $5.5M, leaking your IP exposes your closely-guarded trade secrets and can permanently erase your competitive advantage.
Most manufacturers enforce digital DLP security measures to safeguard their intellectual property, but these struggle with one crucial blindspot: CAD files. CAD files contain the majority of manufacturers’ unique IP - from 3D models and new product designs to machine instructions and prototype visualizations - but traditional DLP security does not adequately protect CAD files.
Unless your CAD file security has these four crucial features, you’re putting your IP - and your company’s future - at risk.
According to Verizon’s 2025 Data Breach Investigations Report, manufacturers suffer a mix of external (86%) and internal (14%) data breaches, with sensitive internal documents - such as CAD files, blueprints and product reports - accounting for 64% of the data compromised.
Manufacturing is the most targeted industry for cyberattacks, accounting for 22% of all cyber attacks. While some cyber attackers will target your perimeter security to steal CAD files, most external threats arise from supply chain and cloud vulnerabilities. In particular, cyber attackers will target smaller (and less security-focused) third-party partners in order to gain access to your supply chain and steal your IP by stealth. Meanwhile, a trusted supplier could accidentally share your CAD files with a fourth-party or provide unauthorized access to your cloud-based PLM system.
For example, cyber attackers stole 11GB of highly sensitive technical data relating to internal procedures and proprietary software architecture from 3DCS, a software supplier to Boeing, VW, Siemens and Samsung, in 2024.
Whether it’s a disgruntled employee downloading CAD files onto a USB drive or a key engineer stealing confidential manufacturing secrets before joining a competitor, insider threats account for one in six manufacturing cyber incidents. Insiders can also accidentally expose credentials through ignorance (i.e. uploading them to a shared data environment) or through sophisticated scams (i.e. AI-voice phishing).
For example, two former Tesla employees stole 100GB of confidential data - including Elon Musk’s social security number and engineering logs on self-driving vehicles - and then leaked more than 23,000 internal documents.
Not only are manufacturers’ digital designs, custom processes and cutting-edge technologies highly prized by external cyber attackers and rogue internal actors, but the growing reliance on cloud-based collaboration has expanded the avenues for IP leaks.
To successfully protect your IP from external and insider threats, your CAD file security must therefore have these four features.
Automatic file-level security protects CAD files containing your IP as soon as they’re generated. Embedded in the application layer of all major CAD file formats (i.e. Autodesk, Siemens, PTC, and Dassault Systemes etc), file-level security enforces CAD file access controls before the data is stored internally (or in a cloud-based PLM system) and when shared externally, so your CAD files are secure even if they fall into the wrong hands.
Encrypting CAD files from creation is the strongest level of CAD file security, ensuring CAD file data classification and preventing unauthorized access for the lifetime of the file. But encryption is not compatible with all PLM systems and CDE environments, and can slow down production when collaborating externally. For some CAD files - and other project files like PDF contracts or blueprints - unencrypted file protection is sufficient for data security and governance. For example, digitally watermarking CAD files ensures lifelong file traceability and reduces the chance of leaks without impacting workflows.
Be it product blueprints or detailed specifications, today’s engineers need to share CAD designs with supply chain partners. But as soon as these files leave your IT perimeter, they are at risk of duplication, accidental leaking and targeted attacks unless your CAD file security enforces access controls for the files’ lifetime — no matter where they travel.
IP theft is not always instant. Files downloaded today could be used years later, so it’s vital to know where the files travel, who accesses them and what edits were made. At a minimum, your CAD file security should have tracking and revocation capabilities that enable you to monitor usage and revoke access at any time — even after distribution.
With Secude’s blend of encrypted and unencrypted file-level CAD protection, you can protect your CAD files from insider and third-party threats without slowing down manufacturing workflows.
Check out our manufacturing page to learn more.
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